Family gathers at site of crash that killed teen

Adrian, as he preferred to be called, planned to fix it up. He won't get the chance.

Early Sunday morning, Torres, 19, died after his Jaguar hit a tree on Susan Street south of Sunflower Avenue.

"At least he wasn't in pain, and he was unconscious the whole time," said Monica Soto, his mother. "I thought he was agonizing, internal bleeding, you name it."

At about 12:30 a.m., Torres crashed his car into a tree, police said. There were no other cars involved. He was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, where he died, according to the coroner's office.

Torres had a female passenger who was injured and taken to a hospital, but was alive, Sgt. Jerry Souza said Sunday.

The accident is under investigation.

Sunday afternoon, Torres' family and friends, some sobbing, gathered at the accident site to build a memorial and swap memories. Next to a mangled car door and shattered windshield at the scene, the family rested two bouquets of flowers and two teddy bears against the tree his car hit. His mother wrote a note: "My lil boy, I (love) you and I will forever have a broken heart."

Soto said Torres constantly joked about everything. Had Torres been able to come back to the scene of the accident, she was sure he'd be joking about it.

"Oh, dang, I did that," Soto imagined Torres would say.

He was also hard worker, she said. He recently got a promotion at the Chipotle at Harbor Boulevard and Wilson Street. He lived with an aspiring rapper, Ethen Jimenez, also known as Sage One, and wanted to be a rapper himself.

"But he knew that work came first, and then you could get to the dream," Soto said.

Still, Torres rapped plenty. His older sister, Bernice Torres, recalled the Cinco de Mayo party she threw this year. She put on the song "Hypnotize" by Notorious B.I.G., and he rapped along.

Bernice and Adrian were in the same grade when they went to Estancia High School. She told everyone they were twins, and people believed her. She convinced him to join the cheerleading team with her when the team needed more boys. He grew to enjoy cheerleading, she said, an example of his positive attitude.

She was just hired to work at the same Chipotle and was excited to work alongside her younger brother.

"He made me not feel scared," she said through tears. "He made me feel like I could do anything."

The last time Bernice saw her brother was at Chipotle. He was dancing in the kitchen, making his co-workers laugh. He kissed her on the forehead, just as he always did.

Adrian often did things that could get him hurt, said his aunt, Joanna Soto. He once fell off a roof he had been climbing. Another time, he mangled a bike he was doing tricks on. Still, Adrian was never seriously injured, she said.

"I thought he was going to get out of this like he always does," Joanna Soto said. "I thought he was made of steel."

Torres' younger sister, Bernadette, is pregnant with a boy. When Adrian found out the baby's gender, he demanded that it be named after him. Now, his family said, there's no question it will be.